Fresh downpours hinder African relief effort

Hundreds of thousands of people are desperate for food and shelter across Africa after the worst floods in three decades, as fresh downpours hampered relief efforts.

Some 1.5 million people have been affected in 18 countries and close to 300 have been killed by the record floods.

In Uganda, one of Africa's worst-hit countries, authorities said renewed rainfall in north-eastern regions was complicating efforts to deliver aid to flood-affected areas.

"The short dry period we experienced for three days was broken yesterday and it has been raining for the past 24 hours, making all roads inaccessible," State Minister For Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru said.

"If the rains continue for the next four days we do not know what will happen. The routes have been destroyed," he told AFP by phone from Soroti, the north-eastern town where much of the relief effort is being coordinated.

An estimated 500,000 people are affected by the floods in Uganda, according to UN agencies and government officials.

Neighbouring regions in southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have also been hit, where dozens have died as a result of the floods.

The crisis prompted Uganda's government Wednesday to declare a state of emergency, the first time President Yoweri Museveni has resorted to the measure in his 21-year tenure.

"We need air transport to deliver food items to the districts, but we are just praying that it stops raining," Mr Ecweru said.

Kenya, where flooding has killed at least 15 people and displaced at least 25,000 others, appealed for help as rain continued to fall.

"People still require basic necessities, sanitation is worrying and there are fears of outbreak of waterborne diseases," said Abdi Ahmed, the head of disaster at the Kenya Red Cross Society.

Mr Abdi said at least 6,000 people are still marooned and most farmlands had been washed away.

Forecasters predict more rain in many parts of Africa over the coming days.

West Africa has also seen its worst floods in decades, with countries such as Ghana, Togo and Nigeria paying a heavy human and economic toll.

With displaced people dying of water-borne diseases and electrocution in remote areas, casualty tolls are still being compiled across the continent.

Mali, a west African nation more often plagued by droughts, said Saturday that unprecedented rainfall had killed nine people and left more than 40,000 homeless since July.

Northern countries were not spared, with 13 people killed in Algeria, including 10 in flash floods Friday south-east of Algiers.

Aid organisations have warned that beyond the immediate needs of those displaced by the floods, destroyed crops could lead to a major food shortage in several parts of the continent.

Appeals for emergency funding have been launched by the United Nations, the European Union as well as by other governments and aid agencies.

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